Some of those cities are larger than Moose Jaw, such as Regina, but some are smaller.

For example, Davidson, which has a population of about 1,000 people, introduced a curbside recycling program several years ago. Willow Bunch began their residential single stream curbside recycling this January. The town’s population, as of the 2011 census, is 286.

Yorkton is another community with curbside recycling, which has a fee of $5 per month per residential household for the curbside recycling program, according to the city’s website. Yorkton, which has a population of a projected 19,000 or so based on the city website’s data, has had the program in place for several years now.

And yet, Moose Jaw doesn’t have curbside recycling. There are options to recycle in the city. Certain recyclables can be dropped off at the SARCAN downtown depot or taken to Pla-Mor Palace on South Hill or the bins currently located in the Sobey’s parking lot off Thatcher Drive.

Curbside recycling discussions have taken place at the city level for years. Yet, nothing is done. At Monday’s executive committee meeting, councillors had a lengthy discussion about recycling following several presentations about concerns about the eight recycling bins at the Sobey’s parking lot.

The Government of Saskatchewan has announced the Multi Material Stewardship Western (MMSW) program that will be effective in January 2015.

Some councillors suggested waiting to hear about that program before implementing a city program.

Others suggested the city shouldn’t be in the business of recycling when private businesses can do it for a small charge per month. Currently, Loraas Disposal provides curbside recycling at a cost of $9 per month.

Others suggested looking into separating materials at the landfill to place the recycling bins there and others proposed eliminating the recycling bins altogether.

Either way, as of discussions on Monday, no decisions were made. There is to be a planning session on June 6 with recycling on the agenda. Hopefully at this time, the city can decide on a recycling strategy.

But this city should have a curbside recycling program. There are people who won’t be willing to pay, or simply can’t afford to pay, for private recycling.

That doesn’t mean they don’t want to recycle. Having a city curbside recycling program encourages everyone to recycle in a convenient way. It makes it easy for everyone.

We are already several steps behind other communities. When communities with a size of hundreds have a curbside recycling program and we don’t, that’s saying something and it’s not saying what it should. The sooner Moose Jaw gets a curbside recycling program, the better.